large as those of 1 ast $ e afl ,^hen I actually hundreds of goldfinches 



rise from a "ield ai once,. and *ly,with the rythmic -avy flight afltd sweet oil 

 and t,li,,ht in a long trim on the telegraph ^re. The robin "lock that 

 tppeared here in Deoerafber, seemed to get recruits st> adily, until early 

 in Februuy there ^ere over a hundred robins. One cold day their flight 

 led them past the house, and it w as a great sight; they wajpe all around us 

 in the fields and bushes,moving slowly along towards southeast^; as °at 

 and sleek as any robins I ever saw. The other winter birds, not so plentiful, 

 but .,11 fairly comnon,h;ave been,blue Jajf^fj inkers , dowry -oodpeokers,.1unoos, 

 chickadees, tree sparrows; and a pair of marsh hawks have been sleeping over 

 the Iqj* ground between here and the shore,, just the same as in summer. The 

 shore birds I do not know, but gulls of some sort have been in^ sight 



whenever I have been at the shore. 



Last Tuesday I Saw my first real soring bird; I w*a crossing the railroad, 



when I sa^ t,w 0 sparrows; tree sparrows, I s uid,of| course, but they did not 

 seem ipite right for tree spu«row S ;so I talked up; they ^ere quite tame, and r 



along for a while, and Mien I got too near, flew upjthen I knew the white 



side fe it hers of the tailjVesper sparrows , which are the commonest aparrowg 



here in sUmmer,more common that either song or chippies. 



Tea tar day morning I vm wsajfcfttfj up by an unusual sound; in the great 



lilac bush, tree r ather,by my window, a blue bird was singing;! tell you, 



it is a glorious sound to hear for the first, time of the season-he ^as 



there again this morning, so he must be here for good. 



There are probably only hair as many species o^ birds to be r 0 und here 



the ye ir through as I used to find in Middlesex ^ells,but here I can get 



acquainted ^ith every one o** them; and in winter it is muoh mor^ birdy here, 



I hope you win not consider me a nuisance, in writing you a t^o page 



1 ft^ e V^* rlth £!*y* nothing to say; is a third page is now thre tten^'ne. I 

 will la^re off abruptly .merely staying how sorry I was to miss the Clttb 



«!i ^\i n RTWf 1 dRte ^ined I an not to rrd.ss the April meeting, 

 even " si ruat coelum" -* 



Very truly, 



3?, 



